Samsung Galaxy Buds Live Review Rundown

The Samsung Galaxy Buds Live are the first true wireless earphones from the brand to feature active noise cancellation. They are available in three colours – black, bronze, and white, matching the company's latest flagship phones, tablets, and wearables – and all have a glossy, reflective finish. The earpieces have touch sensors on the upper parts of the earpieces, and simple taps control various functions.

The $170 Galaxy Buds Live are Samsung's first true wireless earbuds. They are small, low profile and have a compact charging case with Qi support. Active noise canceling is not as powerful as expected, comfort and fit could be hit or miss, G/O Media may get a commission.

The Galaxy Buds Live have a unique shape and the promise of a more comfortable fit. Instead of including a set of eartips like all earbuds, the design of the buds is specifically made to work with anyone's ear. The buds don't isolate sound very well, as the design doesn't seal inside your ear canal.

Priced at $169.99, the Live offers a polarizing design, long battery life, excellent battery life and a robust companion app. Unlike most truly wireless earbuds, the Galaxy Buds Live only has an IPX2 rating which means it has water resistance but only from water that hits it at a 15-degree angle.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds Live have been available for purchase since August 6, 2020, at a price of £179. These are the first true wireless headphones from Samsung to offer ANC, or Active Noise Cancellation. They adopt an open-fit format, i.e. not in-ear. Samsung announced six hours of listening time with a 60 mAh battery inside of each earpiece.

Samsung's Galaxy Buds Live are packed with technology and have a radical new design for the wire-free category. As they rest on the outside of the ear, music sounds a little distant, and not as enveloping as models that sit more firmly in the ear canal. The Buds support AAC, SBC, and a new Samsung Scalable Codec.

Samsung promises a stylish and ergonomic design for comfortable all-day usage along with a premium audio experience. The Buds Live produce rich and clear sound with perhaps the nicest, cleanest bass I've heard in truly wireless earbuds so far. Answering phone calls is easy with the double-tap gesture, and the microphone sounds good on the end of a call.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds Live are unusually-designed truly wireless earbuds. They are adequate for mixed usage and passable for neutral sound. They aren't suitable for wireless gaming due to their high latency on PC and incompatibility with consoles. The Samsung are more stable, last longer off of a single charge, and have lower wireless latency with mobile devices.

The Galaxy Buds Live are Samsung's latest true wireless earbuds. The curved design is meant to fit snugly into the outer part of your ear. Tuned by the Samsung-owned audio brand AKG, the buds are capable of delivering unexpectedly robust audio. The ANC here is pretty decent at tuning at persistent noises, but can't keep up with less consistent interruptions.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds Live are the first true wireless earbuds from Samsung to include noise cancellation and offer a heaping helping of bass. They can compete with the likes of the Apple AirPods and Google Pixel Buds, offering many of the same features plus a few new ones exclusive to Samsung device owners. Fitting them inside your ear requires you to push the speaker grille all the way inside the ear while the charging contacts sit in the upper part of the outer ear.

The $169.99 Galaxy Buds Live have a style all their own. You've never worn earbuds quite like these, which means putting them in the first few times feels a bit foreign. The AKG-tuned buds have 12-millimeter drivers and a “bass duct” to ramp up the low end.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds Live are some of the most comfortable wireless earbuds I've ever worn. Packing 12mm speakers and an air vent designed to make music sound more accurate and lively, Samsung's buds provided rich, full audio for any genre I threw at them. The noise cancellation is ideal for eliminating some small ambient noises and hearing your podcasts a bit more clearly. The buds are rated for pretty bass quality and hold up well in real-world use.

The Galaxy Buds Live are Samsung's latest Android challenger in the true wireless earbud market. The shape is designed to ergonomically sit in people's ears, providing a rock solid fit and seal without the need for ‘intrusive tips’ The buds are quoted as offering 21 hours listening time – six hours from the buds with ANC on 15 hours worth of juice in the case. The low end is more powerful than the AirPods and, while it's a little flabbier than I'd like, makes simpler music genres sound good.

Samsung Galaxy Buds Live are wireless earbuds with noise-cancelling. They come in Mystic Bronze, Mystic Black or Mystic White and come with a carry case. Samsung claims ANC (Active Noise Cancelling) can reduce background noise under 700Hz (e.g. trains and buses) by up to 97 per cent. The buds support Bluetooth 5.0 and use ‘Samsung Scalable Codec', a technology that can change the bitrate of the music being played.

The Galaxy Buds Live have a dual-mic active-noise-canceling system similar to Apple's AirPods. They take the ergonomic design language used by the likes of Jabra and make it a bit rounder and more simple. They do all that without requiring big earfins or silicone tips to stay in place.